The Criteria of Dominance

10.1163/ej.9789004156982.i-310.31

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Chapter Summary

The Award in Esphahanian makes no reference, in the section dealing with the legal issues, to the criteria relevant to the determination of a claimant’s dominant nationality. Relying on a passage in Nottebohm, it simply speaks of dominant nationality ‘based on stronger factual ties between the person concerned and one of the States whose nationality is involved’. The aim of tests for effective nationality, is to find out whether there exists sufficient connection between the individual and the State, and the relevance of any factor indicative of connection. In the case of dominant nationality, on the other hand, the question is how and on what doctrinal grounds connections can be assessed against connections; an issue not debated in the literature. As the pertinent facts are, in the search for dominant nationality, weighed against each other, a high degree of subjectivity is inevitably introduced into the exercise.